A college student's guide to life, class, and learning that they're not alone. I'm not a professional, I'm just hoping to give some advice along the way.

Sunday, July 22, 2012

No Sew T-Shirt Blanket

Hey guys! Today I have a cool craft for you to try :)
I recently realized that I have a lot of memorabilia from high school. I also recently realized that I have collected an abundance of t-shirts from the last four years. Since I'm moving on in life and going to college soon, I figured I should find a way to keep my high school memories without taking up space in my closet or completely throwing out my old t-shirts. So, I decided to make a no sew t-shirt blanket. It's a lot heavier than I expected it to be, but I'm excited to take it with me to college. I used thirty-nine t-shirts and one sweatshirt to make mine, so now I have a lot more room in my closet :) haha I just wanted to start to give you ideas on how you can preserve your physical high school memories without creating useless clutter. And plus it's nice because I can continue to use those t-shirts that I would never wear again.I will keep you guys updated with the various crafts I get into and I hope you like this idea :)

A quick tutorial:
1. I cut a 16in x 16in square from the t-shirt (trying to center the logo, but not going crazy with it).
2. Then, I took a ruler and a marker and measured 2 inches away from each edge. I also cut seven strips (eight cuts) into each of the four sides. This should give you seven strips of fabric on each side (28 in all), and the four corners should be in square or rectangular shaped strips.
3. Cut each of the corner strips in half, creating two triangles instead of one square strip (this makes them easier to tie together).
4. Repeat these steps with the remaining t-shirts. I made a 4 x 5 blanket that was two-sided and used 40 shirts. You can use as many or as few as you would like.5. After you have cut up your shirts, tie the strips together. You can either choose to cut all of your shirts and then tie them all at once or tie them together as you get each one done (I chose the second method personally).
6. After you tie the strips together on one side, gently pull the fabric so the designs on your shirts won't be shriveled up and tiny. Warning: you will hear a riping sound when you pull on the fabric. This is supposed to happen, and it will be fine as long as you pull gently.

7. Continue tying until you are satisfied. Like I mentioned earlier, my blanket is 4 x 5 and double-sided. However, you have freedom to create your blanket in anyway you would like.

If you have any questions on how I made my blanket, or if any of the instructions are unclear, leave a comment! :)

Thank you Sarah! I agree, its really nice to have a lot of my high school memories in one place.Becca, I just made both sides separately, cut the edges into strips, and then tied them together back-to-back. Allison, I would think the fleece would be nice for the blanket itself, so as long as you're able to tie it into a knot it will be fine. Personally, I found cotton the easier to tie together but fleece would be totally possible.

Hi! A friend of mine just started working on one of these, and I think it'd be a great way to use up old shirts! I graduated from college last May and still have a huge pile of old high school tshirts that I haven't worn in years but can't get rid of because of memories.

I have a question about making it double sided though. Did you just tie the edges together? It seems like if that's all you did, it would flap apart in the middle and be kind of odd, but maybe that isn't an issue! Thanks!

My mother passed away almost 2 years ago, I have boxes of her clothes that I can't imagine parting with. I'm not big on sewing and have been looking for something I can make out of her things. I think I just found a perfect idea..ty...i have 3 kids and should have enough of her clothing to make us each one. What a great memory maker. :-)